NNE Comes to The Centre For The Less Good Idea This Month

On Friday 8 April SO | The Academy for the Less Good Idea presents NNE, the performance outcome of its first dance mentorship programme, led by choreographer, performer and teacher, Teresa Phuti Mojela.

NNE emerges out of an 8-week intensive dance mentorship programme for six young women dancers. Coming into the programme from a range of dance disciplines, the dancers were mentored across key aspects of professional dance practice such as technical training, choreographic skills, administration, marketing and performance. The mentorship was initiated in 2019 but had to be put on hold four weeks into the process due to COVID lockdown restrictions. The second half of the mentorship resumed in March this year and focussed on the creation and rehearsal of the dance work, NNE.

Mojela revisited her 2019 creation, NNE, as the performance case study for the mentorship process. Working closely with four professional musicians, Mojela has re-imagined the original version of NNE drawing on the strengths, qualities, and experiences of the six dancers. Together they have interrogated the complexities of being a young woman in South Africa. The dance work is a celebration of Koma (initiation), not as a practice of a specific culture but as a collective cultural practice for young women coming of age. NNE grapples with issues of identity, spirituality and cultural belonging, with the challenges of secrecy around traditional practices.

Mojela sees the mentorship and the initiation process explored in NNE as mirror processes. Through each, the young women are able to develop and come to a deeper understanding of self. NNE is both a vehicle for the development of dance artists and an opportunity to re-imagine traditional initiation practices. It is a process of becoming and a space for asking questions that are often shrouded in secrecy.

As one of their mentorship tasks, the mentees were asked to write a description of NNE. In their own words, NNE is:

"...a sacred journey where young girls become women through Koma ya Basadi, an African initiation ritual. This is where you lose your mask and become true to yourself. The piece interrogates one's spiritual existence. Without understanding where you come from, it is challenging to have an identity. We are a product of our foremothers' secrets, pain and lies." - The cast of NNE

Choreographer and Mentor | Teresa Phuti Mojela

Music Composition | Zandile Hlatshwayo

Musicians | Zandile Hlatshwayo, Paballo Sithe, Nontsikelelo Mfene & Nompumelelo Nhlapo

Dancers | Dipuo Banda, Zaza Cala, Phuti Chokwe, Princess Mbokazi, Nonjabulo Ndlovu & Tidimalo Phelephe

Costume Designers | Masesi Hlatshwayo & Solomon Mthobeni

Duration | 45min - 60min

Venue | The Centre Space, 264 Fox Street, Arts on Main, Maboneng

Date | Friday 8 April 2022

Time | 19h30

Tickets | R100

Please take note of roadworks currently taking place on the M2 highway. Closures of certain off-ramps might change your familiar route and travel time into Maboneng. Kindly take these roadworks into account when planning your departure time or consider alternative routes into Maboneng.

Bookings are available online at www.lessgoodidea.com. Tickets are R100 per programme.

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